Sakura Petals
by animelover171
Summary: Just before Zabuza's death, he gives Sakura a scroll, a scroll with a sword that will change her life forever. Semi-bleach x-over Sakura X Senbonzakura companionship. Strong Sakura
1. The Scroll

**3rd Person POV**

 **The land of waves**

Sakura was trembling. She had just witnessed the death of two people, whom she believed were only just misunderstood. Caught in the world of shinobi and did what they had to to exist. She would even go as far as to believe that if they were given the opportunity to join Konoha, they would.

Should it have been a different time or place or different circumstances, they might have been allys. And it was for these reasons that Sakura had walked up to both Zabuza and Haku's body and kneeled.

She could distinctively hear the sounds of the villagers fighting against Gatō's men, but she payed it no mind as she looked into Zabuza's lifeless eyes. She slowly raised her hand to close his 'lifeless eyes', only to jump in surprise when something clamped over her wrist. She stared into Zabuza's, not so lifeless eyes as he took something from his ninja pouch and pushed it into the palm of her hand.

"It chooses it's master." He croaked as blood spattered from his mouth.

"W-what?" Sakura asked, startled beyond imagination.

"It chooses it's master, it chooses you."

"What are you talking about? Who chooses it's master? Who chose me?" She asked again, only for Zabuza to shake his head.

"The key isn't needed if it chooses you. Take care of it little girl. Only greatness will come of this, should you use it right." Sakura wanted to ask more questions, only to stop in her tracks as his grip on her wrist loosened and fell against her thighs.

Needless to say, she was stunned. What just happened?

She shook out of her stupor when she heard cheerful yells from all around her as the rest of Gatō's men had been defeated. Shaking, Sakura took Zabuza's hand off her thigh and back down by his side before closing his eyes like she had originally planned.

After saying a quick prayer she stood up, catching Kakashi-sensei's eye. She bit her lip and clenched her hands, jumping when she felt something in her hand. But before she could look, a hand was placed on her shoulder.

"Kakashi-sensei."

He gave her a crinkled eye smile. "Let's finish our mission and go home."

Sakura nodded slowly, as Kakashi walked away she stuffed the scroll into her pouch to read it later.

Although it was out of sight, it wasn't out of mind. She always thought about it. Even during the duration of their mission, not even bothering to worry about Sasuke as she usually would, or insult Naruto as she usually would. As a matter of fact, she was to out of character that it almost seemed like it wasn't even her.

This, of course, earned her quite a few stares from said Uchiha and his best friend Naruto. Kakashi only thought it was from the shock of seeing someone's death, that it probably affected her more than the boys because she was raised in a civilian family. Needless to say the boys believed him and his words, deciding to leave her to her thoughts.

About a week later team 7 found themselves standing on the completed bridge of Wave Country, saying their goodbyes.

Sakura watched on in amusement and slight disgust at Naruto as he and Inari hugged each other with snot coming out of their noses.

As they left, Tazuna turned to Inari with a thoughtful look on his face before smiling.

"I think I know what I want to name the bridge." Inari looked up at him.

"What?"

"The Bridge of Seven." Inari looked at him questioningly.

"Is it because they're team 7?" Tazuna chuckled. It wasn't the reason why but he could see how he would come to that conclusion.

"No, it's because of all the people that helped save our village." Inari still looked lost.

"But it was only the four members of Team 7." He said, looking so confused.

"No Inari, it was the four of them, Zabuza and Haku, who, although were our enemies initially, did help save us."

"And the seventh?" Tazuna smiled as he knelt down to Inari's height and ruffled his hair.

"You." He stared on in surprise.

"M-me?"

"That's right kid, if it wasn't for you I don't think we'd be here right now." One of the villagers said as several others murmured in agreement.

"You're a hero kid."

"Your father would be so proud."

"Let's hear it for Inari! Our villages hero!"

Tazuna smiled as he watched his grandson being tossed in the air by the other villagers.

"Your father really would be proud."

Tazuna looked back to the bridge to find the Konoha Shinobi long gone. Fully believing that they'll meet again some day in the future.

~•~

Sakura merely stared off into space as she stood in the Hokage's office with Naruto and Sasuke as Kakashi was giving their mission report.

She was still just as distracted as she was the first day, so distracted that she wasn't even paying attention to what was being said.

It was only when Kakashi had placed his hand on her shoulder did she snap out of it and connect eyes with a worried Fourth Hokage.

Naruto and Sasuke were already gone. 'What?'

"Sakura-chan, did you hear what I just said?" Naruto's father asked her, clearly concerned.

She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. Biting her lip she settled for just shaking her head 'no'.

"In these type of situations, those involved in the incident are asked questions about what had transpired. Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Shisui are with Sasuke doing just that while Yamanaka Inoichi and Nara Shikaku are questioning Naruto."

"And my interrogators would be?" Sakura found herself saying before she could stop herself.

"Interrog- Sakura-chan, it's not an interrogation, you aren't an enemy ninja or anything of the sort." Kakashi and Minato seemed clearly taken aback.

Sakura didn't even know what she said that was so wrong. She remembers back in the academy that if any ninja were to encounter a missing ninja of a high enough ranking they would be interrogated about said ninja and determine if their mental stability was still, well, stable.

' _Maybe it's the fact that they think we're already mentally unstable from the things we saw and don't want to scare us.'_

'You think so?'

' _Got any other ideas?_ '

'...'

' _That's what I thought._ '

And honestly, she couldn't think of anything else.

Before anymore could be said the door opened to reveal two people, two very scary people.

"Ah, Anko-san, Ibiki-san. Thank you for coming."

"No problem Hokage-sama, so, is this the girl we're interrogating?" The woman with dark purple hair said with a slight frown was she looked at Sakura.

Minato and Kakashi face palmed.

 **Interrogation HQ**

Minato and Kakashi stood outside the interrogation room, looking on through the one way mirror.

"You're not usually one to watch an interrogation Hokage-sama." Kakashi commented.

"Sakura's not usually the type to get distracted either, I'm just concerned about her."

Kakashi hummed in agreement. Both men stopped their chit chat as the questions started.

 **Interrogation room**

Ibiki stood by the door with his arms crossed over his chest as Anko sat in the chair at a table while Sakura sat across from her.

"So kid, how was the mission?" Anko asked casually, making Sakura furrow her eyebrows.

"Uhm, alright I guess." She answered awkwardly.

"What do you mean you guess? The mission was a success and the bad guys are dead. Not only that but a group of Genin such as yourselves completed this mission which turned out to be an A rank mission. Seems like it went more than 'alright' if you ask me."

"Well... when you put it like that it sounds great and all, but saying it like that is just gilding it. Putting on a thin layer of gold paint to make it look and sound nice, but it's not like that at all."

"Whatta' ya mean kid?"

"I mean that if you tell it like it really is and how it really went, it's not going to sound that great at all."

"And how did it really go?" Anko asked, leaning a bit closer to the table. Ibiki turned his head to face Sakura to listen to when she had to say.

Outside the room Minato and Kakashi leaned in closer as well.

"Honestly, it was horrible. It started out nice. A simple C rank mission to escort an old man home and protect him from thugs so he can finish building a bridge. But a few hours into the mission we get attacked by the Demon Brothers of the Mist and find out our mission is a lot tougher than we think. But we didn't care, we kept on going, till we get attacked by Momochi Zabuza, an S-class missing nin. Which after the battle leaves our sensei immobilized, and even then, Zabuza managed to escape with the help of his parter. The village itself was a mess because of the unfinished bridge and Gatō's men, a whole week later after doing some training, that didn't even really help out with the mission, we get attacked again. Sasuke almost dies, Naruto goes on a rampage, Kakashi kills Haku, Zabuza becomes our ally at the last minute, he's the one to kill Gatō, and the rest of the villagers were the ones to get rid of the rest of Gatō's men. In the end, it's almost like we didn't do much, heck, I didn't even do anything." Her voice trailed off and got softer at toward the end.

"Well, when you put it that way kid, you almost make me feel sorry for you... Almost. Now back track to Zabuza and Haku, you make it sound as if their death shouldn't have happened, that they didn't deserve to die."

"Did they though?" Sakura's question caught them off guard.

Back outside a few more people had arrived.

"How'd it go with Naruto and Sasuke?" Minato asked Itachi, Shisui, Inoichi, and Shikaku.

"Fine, all both boys could talk about was how awesome they did in handling the situation and saving the village. They felt rather proud of themselves despite all the negatives that happened."

Minato hummed as he continued to listen to them but watch Sakura.

"What about the girl?"

"She's rather... Interesting."

All four new comers looked to one another before looking on into the room where the questioning (interrogation) was happening.

"-you make it sound as if their death shouldn't have happened, that they didn't deserve to die."

"Did they though?" Everyone was taken aback by her question.

Anko slammed her hands to the table startling Sakura into jumping.

"They were missing nin, a missing nin is not only an enemy to their own village but to every other village as well." Anko said with vigor, surprising all the adults around.

They all knew that she had different views than what she was actually saying, she was only questioning Sakura the way she was to get certain answers out of her.

"Not always."

And her answers just keep on surprising them.

"How do you mean?"

"The enemy of our enemy is our ally. It even happened on our mission today. After Gatō turned against Zabuza, Zabuza became an ally of ours, even if it was only for a while."

"So because he turned into an ally for a few minutes, you think he didn't deserve to die."

"Is that not right?"

Anko heaved a sigh before leaning back and crossing her arms across her chest. "You still have a lot to learn kid, a missing nin is a missing nin."

"What makes him a missing nin? The fact that he left his village?"

"It's more than that brat. He left his village and went on a killing spree. Killed people left and right. I know you know what classifies a missing nin."

"I do, and I also know what classifies a Shinobi. A person who kills when it's in their best interest to either remain alive or undetected, to kill for money, to do things with out morals or abandoning the rules when it becomes necessary, that's not just what classifies a missing nin, it's also what classifies a Shinobi.

The only difference is who takes or gives the orders, or if you make your own."


	2. First Appearances

**3rd Person POV**

Everyone stared at the girl that spoke of knowledge and wisdom way past her age.

"That's quite the perspective you have on things there kid." Surprisingly, it wasn't Anko who spoke this time, it was Ibiki.

"Most people would just look at things as how they appear to be, in black and white." He continued. "What made you think of this in this way?"

"Well, since our first day, Kakashi-sensei always says to "look underneath the underneath." so I always figured that things weren't always as they appeared, that there was alway more than meets the eye."

Outside the interrogation room Kakashi smiled a crinkled eye smile behind his mask. His eyes shining with pride.

"Well I believe that concludes our interrog- I mean, our questioning."

A slightly troubled look appeared on Sakura's face.

"That is unless, there's something you need to say." Anko added at seeing the look on her face.

"Well there is one thing?"

"What is it?"

"W-well..."

"C'mon kid, spit it out."

"Zabuza, gave me something..." Anko once again slammed her hands on the table.

"What!?" She asked incredulously. Even Ibiki uncrossed his arms in shock.

"What did he give you?" Ibiki barked.

"A scroll-"

"Let me see it." Ibiki demanded without even letting Sakura finish her sentence.

 **Sakura's Personal POV**

I reached for the scroll and as soon as it touched my fingers I felt a presence I never felt before, a strong one, but a comforting one. Then when Ibiki took the scroll from my hands, the feeling disappeared.

'I wonder if he feels it too?' I thought as he began examining the scroll.

"There's not even an opening to this thing."

"What? Let me see that!" Anko said as she also grabbed the scroll and began looking at it from all angles.

"What the hell? There's no- wait a second... I know these scrolls!"

"You do?"

"Yeah, someone taught me about these things before. They're called, for lack of a better term, Sword Scrolls. They're pretty big in the Hidden Mist Village, especially since the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist obtained their swords from these kind of scrolls. Each scroll is said to have some kind of powerful sword with some kind of ability, but you have to obtain the abilities some how, they aren't just given to you. Each sword is different, therefore each secret to unravel about the sword is different."

"That's great and all, but how do you open it?"

"You need some kind of key. And chances are any key we'd need to open it is back in the Village Hidden in the Mist."

"So the scroll is worthless?"

"Pretty much."

I just stared back and forth between the two of them who were having their conversation in their own little world.

'But didn't Zabuza say that the key isn't needed if it chooses it's master?'

I was about to tell them that before deciding to keep my mouth shut.

'It's better if I don't, if I do, I may never get that scroll back.'

My own thoughts surprised me, just from that feeling the scroll gave me when I just now touched it already gave me an attachment to it... I wanted it.

"Does that mean I can have it back now?"

Both Anko and Ibiki looked to each other before looking through the mirror.

'If the Hokage thought it was dangerous for her to have it, he would have came in here already. Well, it really is worthless without that key... It'll probably just lay around collecting dust.' Both Anko and Iniki thought.

"Sure thing kid."

 **Later That Night**

I heaved a sigh as I walked into my house, announcing that I was home to my parents, only to be greeted with silence.

That's odd, is no one home?

I looked around and found a note attached to a plate of cold food.

 _Went out of the village, be back in a week._

Was all it said. I sighed again before warming up the plate of food.

I take the plate to my room and sit on the bed.

I took out the scroll and looked at it. They were right.

There was no seam to open the scroll, it was just sealed shut all around.

"If I don't need a key, how am I supposed to open it?" I asked myself as I took a bite of my food.

Maybe a phrase? Like a code word or something?

As I kept thinking of ideas I continued to eat my food till I was done.

"It's almost ten o'clock... I should get some sleep." I told myself as I took my plate back into the kitchen and set the scroll on my vanity table.

I decide to sleep on it and do some research on it tomorrow.

 _Dream_

 _I was sleeping peacefully until I felt a breeze blow right through my hair, causing me to stir._

 _'That's odd, I thought I closed my window.' I thought to myself as I felt around my mattress to reach for my blanket only to feel nothing but grass against my fingertips_ _._

 _I sat up quickly and looked around. There was nothing but grassy fields and cherry blossom trees for miles around me._

 _This is more that just a dream, I know what's going on, I know what's happening, I'm aware. So what is this?_

 _I stand up and walk around, staring at the falling cherry blossom petals._

 _I reach out to grab one but stop when I feel the same powerful presence that I did earlier when I touched the scroll._

 _I whipped my head around and nearly screamed when I saw a Samurai standing at the other end of the clearing I was in. He was dressed in a standard red samurai armor and samurai mask, with a sword attached to his hip._

 _"I wouldn't touch those petals if I were you, they're quite sharp, despite their beautiful appearance." I heard him say._

 _"What? They look like ordinary flower petals... Unless, it's a genjutsu of some sort." He gave a low amused chuckle._

" _That is what you'd call this sort of thing in your world isn't it? A genjutsu, a technique that gives you the illusion of something other than what you are supposed to be seeing." I frowned and nodded slowly, not knowing what it was so easy to talk to a complete stranger who just appeared out of nowhere._

 _'Because it's a dream.' I tell myself. 'I'm not in any real danger, plus, this feeling. This strong, over powering, presence of... Safety, protection, belonging, comfort, and so much more._

 _"So if I'm not really seeing flower petals, what am I seeing?" I ask as I look up to all the floating petals._

 _"They are fragments, fragments of a blade."_

" _A blade? What blade?"_

 _"I see, although you are more ready than most others, perhaps you're not that prepared after all."_

 _"What? What do you mean."_

 _"You can actually hear me speak. Most who just come into contact with their companion sword they can't hear a word we say. They have to want to know, to know so badly they'd do almost anything. You've already done quite a lot._

 _You've kept my scroll despite it being give to you be a criminal, you want me back as soon as I'm gone from you, and you spend hours of your time trying to get to me._

 _You have already taken that step, but it appears as though you are still not ready yet to wield me."_

 _"Wield you? Wait, does that mean you're the 'power' Anko spoke of that resides in the sword?"_

 _"I suppose that would be me, yes."_

" _But you're not just some "power", you're a spirit, a being." Another small chuckle came from the Samurai._

 _"There's that as well, your view of things, you are more open to other possibilities than the norm; "look underneath the underneath" yes?"_

 _I slowly nodded._

" _You heard that conversation?"_

 _"Dear Blossom, I heard everything. Even things that weren't said out loud."_

With a start I woke up, breathing heavily. I look to my table where I put the scroll and stared at it.

"I didn't even get his name..."

" _She couldn't even hear me say my name, perhaps the next time we meet, she will walk away with me as her sword, in her hands."_


	3. The Chunin Exams

**Sakura's POV**

After I woke up, the first thing I did was grab the scroll. I looked at it all over again, feeling a slight disappointment as it was still sealed all the way around.

I set it back on the table so I could get ready for the day, take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, then head down to the training grounds for the usual team training, maybe a D rank mission if we're lucky.

I made sure to stuff the scroll into my pouch as well before taking off to the training fields.

As I casually walk through the village I think back to what I saw last night. Wondering if it was really all just a dream or if it was really something the spirit in the scroll did...

I let out a sigh as I got to the training grounds. To my surprise Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke were already there.

Is Kakashi-sensei early?

"Sakura-chan... you're late." Naruto said softly with surprise in his voice, Kakashi and Sasuke looking at me with various faces of surprise as well.

"What? What time is it?" I asked, feeling shock go through my body.

"It's almost noon." Kakashi stated while looking at his imaginary watch. "I arrived here an hour ago myself."

I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration, did me being in that dream like state go on for longer than I thought? Was I in there that long that I woke up late?

"Sorry guys, I guess I was so tired after coming back from our mission yesterday that I slept through my alarm clock." Kakashi-sensei gave me a crinkled eye smile in understanding of something he probably really didn't understand.

"No worries Sakura, we actually aren't going to do much today after what we have recently been through. So today all we are going to do is-" the cry of a hawk caught Kakashi's attention as it flew above his head in a few circles causing him to heave out a tired sigh.

"Already?" He murmured to himself. "Sorry team change of plans, looks like we're taking the entire day off today. Let's push this little team event to tomorrow, you're free to do whatever you want for the rest of the day. Just don't do anything that would get me in trouble." With those parting words Kakashi-sensei left us in a whirl of leaves.

There was a few moments of silence till Naruto and Sasuke both rounded in on me.

"Are you really okay Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked with a worried look on his face. Sasuke didn't look worried or concerned, he looked more curious than anything.

"Yeah guys I'm fine, I promise." Sasuke seemed okay with my response and merely nodded before walking away, his figure was almost completely gone before I turned to look at Naruto. "I'll see you la-"

"Wait! Do you wanna get ramen?" Naruto cut me off with a smile.

I contemplated whether or not I should or not before giving a small nod. "Sure Naruto." Before the two of us began our trek to Ichiraku.

Now, before anyone gets any ideas, Naruto is honestly just a friend.

Back at the academy Naruto was one of those people that always had something to say, and it wasn't always a good thing. This, unfortunately, caused him to be on the receiving end of several beatings... from me. He had always been the idiot of the class, which was surprising considering who his father was, which also warranted for a beating. But he always had the optimism, a fight in him that I had always admired.

Sasuke on the other hand was the kind of person who always did everything perfectly with grace and elegance. He was always so cool in everything he did, which was probably why I've had a crush on him for years now, not that I'd admit it out loud to him, though I'm pretty sure he knows it already.

I think the only reason he even tolerates me is because I haven't confessed yet. I don't think I want to either, Sasuke has enough to deal with as it is. Not to mention the hate I would get from the rest of his fangirls if they had ever found out.

The only person I had ever told was my best friend Ino, whom after I had told, broke off our friendship because she like him too.

Ino never told anyone about my feelings for the Uchiha, so that was still kept a secret, but her betrayal will forever haunt me into never telling anyone ever again.

Which, now that I think about it, may be a good thing.

 _You can do better than him_ _anyways Sakura-chan._

I froze mid step as the spirit in the scrolls voice came through my head.

 _Ah, so you can hear me now? It seems as though last nights encounter strengthened our bond, allowing you_ _to hear me, even now._

I bit my lip, not knowing how to respond, but a little part of me felt ecstatic knowing that last night wasn't some weird dream, and I was getting closer to my companion sword.

I put my hand to my pouch where the scroll was, feeling it buzz with an energy that made me want to actually wield him.

Gah! If I only I could learn his name!

"Sakura-chan?" I snapped out of my thoughts on the scroll and looked up to Naruto's concerned gaze. "Are you sure you're alright from before? I know that witnessing death isn't exactly the most pleasant thing, especially the first time seeing it. So do you want to put off going to Ichiraku till tomorrow?"

I stared dumbfounded at the blond before me. What he said was actually... Considerate.

"Especially considering you're a civilian born." I felt my eyebrow twitch as a deep sensation went through my body.

I take that back.

I was two seconds away from hitting him on the head until I saw a small brown box behind Naruto with a few holes in it, painted to look like a rock.

Curious, I took a step back, Naruto a confused step forward, and the box following a step behind him.

I stifled a small laugh as I saw part of a scarf sticking out of the side of the box.

"Uh Naruto, I think you have some little followers behind you."

Naruto spun around and several little gasps from inside the box was heard before three little academy students popped out.

"Wow boss! She noticed us before even you did!" The brown haired kid in the middle said as he looked up at me with big wide eyes. I recognized him immediately as the Third Hokage's grandson. The girl to his left had orange hair tied up in two cone shaped pig tails. The boy to Konohamaru's right had brown hair and glasses with snot dripping out of his nose.

"Of course Sakura-chan noticed you! She was the smartest of our grade, she even tied with Sasuke." More little gasps from Naruto's words. "Even though she's a civilian born." More eyebrow twitching from me.

"So boss, are you gonna come play ninja with us?!"

"Sorry Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, maybe later. Me and Sakura-chan were doing something."

Soon a little mischievous smile came on to Konohamaru's face as he and his two little friends looked at each other before bursting out into giggles.

"Oh I see boss, you were going on a date with Sakura-san weren't you. She's your girlfriend isn't she?" I bristled at Konohamaru's words, even more so when Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly.

"You really think we'd be cute together?" I sweat dropped.

 _That's not even close to what_ _they said. I take back what I_ _said earlier, stick with the Uchiha_.

I made a noise from the back of my throat that sounded distinctly like a snort before I actually hit Naruto. God I've been holding that in for too long.

"No, I'm not Naruto's girlfriend, and Naruto, they didn't even say anything about us being cute together."

"Gah! The evil hag hit our boss! What do we do?" Konohamaru exclaimed while pointing a finger at me and looking at his two friends who were just as scared as he was.

I clenched my knuckles in irritation before turning to face the trio of academy students.

I could hear a small voice from behind me saying to "run while you can" by Naruto before all three ran off. They didn't get very far though because they had ran into someone, literally.

He ran into a man with purple face paint, he had something wrapped around his back in wrappings. The girls next to him had dirty blonde hair tied up into four pony tails, she too had something on her back.

Upon further inspection I saw their headbands with the Sunagakure symbol rather than Konoha's leaf insignia on the small silver plate attached to the blue cloth of a Shinobi headband.

"Konohamaru!" Yelled out his two little friends and Naruto as they bolted forward when Konohamaru was picked up by his collar threateningly by the same man he had bumped into.

But none of that really seemed to be going through my mind. The only thing that was going through my mind was why foreign Shinobi were in our village.

They could be here for a mission. But if they were wouldn't they want to draw as less attention to themselves as possible? I highly doubt that they're here for some type of vacation either. Maybe an attack? After all he did have Konohamaru, he may not know who he is but that might be even worse. He doesn't care who he grabs.

I was so caught up in my thoughts I didn't even notice Sasuke had arrived until he came down from his perch on the wooden fence we were standing next to.

Looking back up I also noticed that they also had a new member of their team arrive while I was lost in thought. Not only that but Konohamaru was set free.

 _We're going to have to fix that._ _You have to learn to pay more_ _attention_.

"State your purpose." Sasuke said in a way that gave me chills, and not the good kind either. He had that same tone of voice he used when fighting against Zabuza and Haku.

He sounded vicious.

"Why should we answer you?" The one with the face paint asked with a scowl on his face.

"Because," I started. "as foreign ninja you are to state your purpose for being in our territory whenever asked of you by another ninja, regardless of rank. Even more so when you so openly threaten the Third Hokage's grandson." I said while pointing to Konohamaru. "And that's just a small thing on the list of many that could ruin ties between our villages and kick you out. Because you're also dealing with our fourth and current Hokage's son, and the second son to the head of the Uchiha clan." As soon as I stated their statuses, both Naruto and Sasuke stood with a straighter back and ugh, I could just feel their ego rising.

The sole female scoffed, trying not to look so put off by my words. "Well if you must know, we're here for the chunin exams."

"Chunin exams? What's that?" I face palmed at Naruto's question.

"Are you sure that's the Hokage's son?" The man with the purple face paint asked.

I chose to ignore his question in favor of answering Naruto's.

"The Chunin exams are where all Shinobi across the nation come together to take the exams required to become Chunin, it's how most ninja commonly get promoted. The purpose of having ninja from other villages is to strengthen the bond between them."

"Whoa! That sounds cool. Hey hey, Konohamaru, do you think I could take the exams and become a Chunin?"

"No way boss. Sasuke is way cooler and stronger that you are and Sakura's smarter. You'll only drag them down if you all go together."

That's funny, as the girl with zero strong points and zero ninja background, the one holding the team back should be me.

 _Don't think like that._

"What's your name?" I followed Sasuke's gaze to the final person and newest arrival. The red headed man with the gourd on his back.

I noticed the nervous looks his two companions were giving each other then look back at him, only to jerk back slightly when I realized he was staring right at me.

"Subaku no Garra. I'm also interested in what your name is as well. Yours too." He said, looking right at me.

"Uchiha Sasuke." The red head didn't say anything, he just looked at me, waiting.

"H-Haruno Sakura."

Why did he want to know my name? I understand why he wanted to know Sasuke's... but why me?

 _You sell yourself short Blossom._ _Perhaps there was something you_ _did or said that interested him._

But still...

"Don't you wanna know my name?" Naruto asked while pointing at himself, shaking my out of my thoughts again. Unknowingly further interesting Gaara.

"They already know who you are Naruto, they knew as soon as you were introduced as the Fourth Hokage's son." I said while watching Gaara, he still hasn't take his eyes off of me, and it was a bit unnerving, but I couldn't take my eyes away either, no matter how much I wanted to.

"Oh right, because everyone already knows who I am." Naruto said with even more ego than before.

"Let's go." Gaara said to his teammates before he himself disappeared in a flurry of sand.

Once they were all gone I finally found my able to move my eyes.

I had so many questions running through my mind. Just why the hell couldn't I look away from him.

 _You were scared. Frightened by the look in his eyes._

I couldn't help but agree. There was so much just in his eyes, anger, hate, loneliness, but most of all, tiredness. He was tired.

 **Gaara's POV**

She was talking to someone, in her mind. She had this far away look in her eye and it happened throughout the whole ordeal.

I don't know who she was talking to, but I want to. Is she like me, does she have what I do?

I felt a stirring inside me that could only belong to the Shukaku spirit, dwelling in my very being.

My thoughts drifted back to... Haruno Sakura.

I have to know who she was talking to.

 **The Next Day**

 **Sakura's POV**

"Chunin exams! Really sensei? Alright!" Naruto shouted in excitement before tackling Kakashi-sensei to the ground in a bear hug.

"Now, now Naruto, that's enough." Kakashi-sensei replied awkwardly. He didn't do well with physical contact.

Now it's true that Kakashi-sensei was once the pupil of the Naruto's dad but because Kakashi was always away in missions and in ANBU, Naruto only grew up with stories until he became our sensei.

"Now then," sensei started after composing himself now that Naruto was off of him. " the three of you are to report to the given address on the hand out with the papers already signed, they're your tickets to take the test. The exam begins at nine in the morning so you have a few extra hours to get ready or sleep in. There will also be no team meeting due to the exam, so this will be that last time I see you all until the end of part two of the exam.

Well team, good luck!" Kakashi-sensei all but disappeared on the three of us.

Well... Might as well get started on packing.

I started walking to the shopping district of town in order to buy more things that I'd need for the exam when I felt a warm excited buzzing in my pouch.

'What are you all excited for?'

All I got in return was the warm buzzing intensifying.


	4. The Written Exam

**Sakura's POV**

After shopping for more ninja supplies, the Samurai in the scroll suggested a change in wardrobe too. Saying that a bright red dress was too colorful for a ninja who was supposed to excel in espionage, my hair already gave me a disadvantage, no need for my wardrobe to make me an even bigger target.

Realizing the truth to his words I grabbed a few pairs of black pants, some black leggings, long and short sleeve shirts, and a sweater. It may have been summer now but long sleeves and jackets were a good protection to some attacks. A few bandannas too were placed in my small shopping basket.

I brought my things up to the cash register to check out my items when I saw a small first aid kit on the shelves behind the cash register and asked the salesman to ring that up for me too, that would definitely come in handy, especially because I don't know how dangerous these exams are or what they will all consist of. Even if I didn't use them for the exam, with my teammates it'll be used sooner or later.

It was nearly two hours later when I finally made it home. Why did it take so long? Because a fake Sasuke came and tried to convince me not to take the exams. But I knew right away it wasn't Sasuke, because there's no way he'd ever care that much. Plus he's not the kind of person to tell someone to quit like that. His mother would have killed him for saying something like that.

After I got inside I realized that my mom and dad still weren't home.

They wouldn't be home till the end of the week. They'll miss my whole exam.

 _'Oh well, there's not much I can do about that anyway.'_ I thought to myself before closing the door behind me and walked to the kitchen.

After making myself dinner and having filled out the paperwork for the Chunnin exams, I packed a few scrolls with the things I'd need for the exam and put them in my hip pouch.

I took a nice long shower before going to sleep with the sword scroll next to me, hoping for some other kind of connection with the Samurai.

Unfortunately however there was no second dream.

That might be for the best though, considering the last time I dreamt with the Samurai I woke up late enough that Kakkashi-sensei even got there before me. I might have gotten up late again this time and might have even slept through the exams, and that would just be unacceptable.

After waking up and getting dressed with the new clothes that I bought yesterday, a pair of black flexible leggings and a navy blue long sleeved turtleneck.

I slipped on my shoes and had a quick breakfast consisting of two eggs on toast, and avocado slices on top before taking off out the door and to the academy where the exams would be held.

 _'What do you suppose the exams will be about?'_ I heard the Samurai ask through my mind. Still a bit unsure about how to talk to him I just decided to think it.

 _'Who knows. We haven't been genin for that long so whatever it is it shouldn't be too extreme that we can't answer the questions they give us.'_

"Sakura-chan!" I look up and see both Naruto and Sasuke waiting for my by the entrance of the building. "You changed your clothes!?" Both boys looked confused at my change of wardrobe.

"Well yeah, I kind of figured that the red was a bit too bright and that I'd go for something a bit more unnoticeable." I explained.

"Wow Sakura-chan, you're so smart!" Naruto exclaimed with a bright expression on his face.

I couldn't help the small smile that crossed me face at his words.

"For a Civilian born."

My eyebrow twitched.

 _You know, that boy is really starting to anger me._

I hummed in agreement, I was merely seconds away from knocking him out and having him miss these exams and fail by default.

"Enough talking, we're wasting time. Let's go." Sasuke said from atop the stairs before turning his back towards us to walk into the building.

 _So is that one._

Again, I sighed in agreement.

"You Teme!" Naruto yelled as he ran after Sasuke. I followed close behind my teammates.

It took us a rather long time to get to the classroom seeing as how when we first got inside we were stopped at the second floor because of a genjutsu, then two older shinobi started pushing around a girl who was just trying to get inside, then Sasuke and Naruto both picked fights with another genin team, it was a disaster, especially after their sensei showed up saying he was Kakashi-sensei's long time rival and how was winning 51 to 50. Needless to say we didn't believe him.

 _He's insane I tell you, you best stay away from those green leotards Blossom. The mini one too, especially the mini one._

I couldn't help but agree with the Samurai. They were insane.

But one thing was for sure, I wouldn't forget Rock Lee, Neji Hyuuga, Tenten, or Might Gai anytime soon.

When we had finally made it to the classroom where the test was to be taken Kakashi was waiting by the door for us, saying how it was a good thing that we all came together because if even one of us had decided not to show up no one would have been able to get through, seeing as it was more of a team test.

Then he wished us good luck and disappeared in his usual swirl of leaves. Which leaves us with now, standing outside the door to the testing room.

"Well, are you guys ready to go inside?" I asked, Naruto seemed to take it as a challenge rather than a question and just kicked the door down.

"Dobe, what the hell?"

Sasuke and I stared in horror at Naruto who as soon as he walked in, jumped up on a table a started yelling at every shinobi in the the room.

"I'm not scared of any of you! I'm going to kick all your asses. Believe it!"

Sasuke and I face palmed after Naruto stepped down with a cheeky grin on his face.

"You idiot, now their all staring at us." Sasuke scolded while pinching he bridged of his nose.

"What? My mom told me that if I get scared or nervous to challenge it head on. And they made me nervous so I challenged them head on."

"I don't think that's what she meant Naruto." I told him as I sighed.

"Of course you wouldn't understand Sakura-chan, you're a civilian born." Something in me finally snapped as I smacked Naruto upside the head.

"Ouch, Sakura-chan!"

I ignored Naruto for the time being and instead focused on what was going on around me. I internally cringed when I noticed the amount of people who were staring at us.

"Yahoo! We found you guys!" I was torn from my thoughts as Kiba jumped right in front of us.

"Kiba, Hinata, Shino! You guys are here too?" Naruto exclaimed, clearly surprised.

I smiled and nodded to Hinata in greeting but Hinata only frowned at me, making me confused. She then looked to Naruto who was rubbing his head still with a pout on his face and her frown deepened.

 _Oh. That's why._

I ignored the look the Hyuuga Heiress was giving me and instead listened to the guys and what they were talking about until another new face joined the group.

"How troublesome, you guys are here too?"

Shikamaru questioned as he and Chouji walked up to the group, surprisingly missing their blonde female teammate.

The part of me that still wanted Ino as a best friend wanted to ask where the she was but the other more stubborn half didn't want to bother asking.

But regardless of either side of her in we turmoil her question was answered when said blonde came from around us all and tackled Sasuke into a back hug.

I felt a vein pop in my forehead but held in whatever comment I had on the tip of my tongue.

Sasuke struggled to get Ino off of him but to no avail, Ino kept her vice like grip on him.

"Ino you troublesome girl, let go of Sasuke. We're enemies in this exam so act like it." Shikamaru said coming to Sasuke's rescue.

"Shikamaru your no fun." Ino growled at him but ultimately let go of Sasuke and retuned to her teams side.

I caught the look of appreciation that Sasuke sent Shikamaru and had to hold back a laugh but couldn't help myself when a smirk formed on my lips. Which of course Ino caught.

"What's so funny over there billboard brow?!"

I looked up and nearly gulped because everyone was looking at me. I opened my mouth to try and come up with something but was interrupted by a newcomer.

As soon as I layer eyes on the man with silver hair tied into a ponytail and circular glasses I felt the scroll begin to hum against my thigh.

 _Sakura, don't trust him._

I kept my eyes on him as he began speaking.

"You guys should really keep it down over here, it's. It's not a good idea to attract any kind of attention."

"Who asked you for your opinion anyway four eyes?" Ino snapped at him.

"Ino calm down, he's just trying to help." Chouji said as he turned to look at him. "Hi I'm Chouji, what's your name?"

"My name is Kabuto."


	5. The Written Exam Pt 2

**Sakura's POV**

It was absolute chaos right now.

Right after Kabuto had walked up to us all he told us all about the exams and about how this was his seventh time taking the exam.

 _ **'Quite a loser if you ask me.'**_ I had to hold myself back from laughing at the scroll's words.

He told us everything he knew about the exams over the course of his experience.

He even went into how many ninja from each village would be participating this year, giving us all this information through ninja info cards.

He had information on all Genin participants, and was more than happy to show us them when Sasuke asked for specific information on some of them. He gave us the basics of Rock Lee and Gaara no Subaku. Both are people who Sasuke wants to challenge.

But then Kabuto started talking bad about the other villages and how crappy they were, especially the Sound ninja, causing one of the sound ninja to attack him.

At first it looked like the sound ninja had missed but it turned out that he had used sound waves to attack him, making Kabuto sick.

The attack had caused the whole room of ninja to jump up and prepare to attack or defend if they had to, but before anyone could anything more the door busted open and a big man walked in, I recognized him as one of the ninjas who interrogated me from before, Ibiki.

"Alright you brats, that's enough fighting. Fighting in the first exam is strictly forbidden, any rule breakers will be disqualified, is that understood?" When no one responded he took it as a 'yes' and continued his speech. "Each of you will be drawing numbers from a bucket, you will sit in the seat according to the numbers that you draw. Once everyone is seated we can begin with the rules on the exam."

After picking numbers everyone that we knew close enough was separated for the most part. Naruto managed to get a seat next to Hinata, while Ino is sitting behind me. Once the last person got their seat Ibiki cleared his throat before sweeping his eyes over the occupants of the room. His eyes met mine for a second and he stared for a while before moving on.

"There are three rules to this test, keep your papers faced down until I'm done explaining them. I'm also only going to explain these rules once so listen up. First rule; this test is a deduction based exam. You will start out with ten points, and there are ten questions, so it's one point for each question. If you get one wrong you then have nine points, you get five wrong you have five points, you get eight wrong, you have two left.

"Second rule, this is a team event, whether you pass or fail will depend on all three team members and your combined score, however, if even one of you fail, all three of you fail." Immediately protests were heard all over the room, complaining at the unfairness of the exam.

"Quit your whining. We're doing this for a reason, if you pay attention you might just learn something. Now then, the third rule is crucial. During this test if it appears as though your cheating, we deduct another two points from your score, meaning there's more than one way to lose than just getting the answer wrong. If you get caught enough times that you happen to lose all of your points, you and your team will be asked to leave. If you want to become a Chunnin then you better act as if you already are. Now then, are there any questions?" No one said anything. "Then you have one hour to complete your exam, you may now begin."

The rustling of paper was heard as everyone flipped their test over to begin. As soon as I read the first question I was stumped.

 _'What the actual fuck?'_ I thought as I looked over the other questions. _'What kind of questions are these, there's no way a Genin can answer any of these questions! And I thought that there was supposed to be ten questions, the last one is missing! There's only nine! I guess that means they'll give it to us later.'_

 ** _'I believe I can help you. So the first question is asking about weapon trajectory if another force was added to it, so...'_** The scroll began explaining things to me. His theories made complete sense too. I would have been able to figure it out I'm sure, but it would have taken me much longer. Together with the scroll I was able to finish my ten questions in about twenty minutes, and because I never even looked up from my paper even once I know I wont have any points deducted. Now it's all just up to Naruto and Sasuke.

Sasuke is a genius because of his clans teachings and refusing to let him fall behind in his studies. While Naruto isn't that smart his mother certainly instilled fear into his heart if he got anything less than a C on any of his tests or his homework, so I'm sure he's gotten at least one question right.

After a few minutes of thinking about my team and how they'd do on this test I felt a pull. It was a pull on my mind.

 _ **'Sakura, there seems to be an intruder in your mind, I believe it's from that girl behind you.'**_

 _'Ino, she's using her mind transfer jutsu.'_

 ** _'Mind transfer? That wont do, I'm going to block her from entering your mind.'_**

 _'You can do that?'_

 ** _'Of course, just wait and see.'_**

And so I did. Soon the pull that I felt on my mind went away and I heard Ino gasp from behind me.

"What the hell?" I heard her mutter under her breath. I couldn't help but grin. A few seconds later she tried again but with the same result. "What on earth billboard brow." After a third failed attempt the head of the man next to me hit his desk.

 _'Ino must have gone into his mind instead._ ' A second later he/Ino looked up confused as hell. He/Ino looked at me while I was already looking back with a grin on my face. His/Ino's jaw dropped. I looked away before any of the proctors could say I was cheating and instead focused back to my team. I could feel the rage from next to me but chose to ignore it in favor of watching Ibiki who threw a Kunai knife on to a kids paper.

"That's number five. You've been caught cheating too many times, you and your team need to leave this exam." I watched as the kid stood up in rage and began complaining. It was useless though because in the end they still had to leave. Then it all just went down hill from there. One by one teams were disqualified, and the numbers got increasingly short.

When there was ten minutes before the hour was over Ibiki stopped us.

"I'm sure you've all realized it by now but the last question is missing, that's because there are new rules that come with this final question. That being said, if you chose to answer this question and get it wrong, your ninja career ends here. You will never be able to take this test again, and stay as a Gennin for the rest of your lives. However you may chose not to answer this question and try again next time with a different instructor. You all have 60 seconds to decide."

I was stumped. A gennin for the rest of my life? And what about Naruto whose ambition is to become the next Hokage, or Sasuke who wants to become the new Chief at the Uchiha Police Station? And what about me, I've just started my whole life and my whole future is riding on this one question, should I even go for it.

As I was contemplating this some occupants of the room rose their hands.

"Sorry guys, but I just can't do it. We can try again next time when the stakes aren't so high." He said, apologizing to this team mates who had to follow him out because they had to. Soon even more of the started to leave.

What were the guys going to do? What was I going to do? Were any of us going to raise our hands and try again in six months in a different country?

 ** _'Why would you even think about leaving? Is this not exactly what you signed up for?'_** I froze at the scroll. ** _'I mean, you are training to be a ninja aren't you? I wasn't aware that once you started a mission you can back out of it half way through when the stakes get to high. You should have been aware of such things from the very beginning. And besides, even of you do get this question wrong, does that mean that being a Gennin forever mean you have to stop training or stay as weak as what you and everyone else is probably thinking? By choosing to stay and answer this question means that you had the strength to stay through to the end even if it wasn't in your favor, you're already stronger mentally than those who had left already.'_**

Not long after the scroll explain himself Naruto had surprisingly raised his hand before slamming it back down, giving a speech about had it didn't matter if failing this question made him a Gennin for life because no matter what would happen, he'd become Hokage. His little speech put resolve in others around him. And while the scroll had already given me enough of a reason not to give up now, so did Naruto, that goof ball.

"Are you all sure, this is everyone's last chance, any one else want to raise their hand and leave?" Ibiki looked around the room before he seemed satisfied with everyone's stronger mentality thanks to Naruto's speech. Ibiki grinned before he continued. "Then that means there's only one thing left for me to do, which is to tell you that everyone else still here, you all pass the first part of the Chunnin exams." If I wasn't stumped before by the outrageous tenth question then my ass was definitely rooted now. What the absolute fuck.

After explaining everything about the written test and how the main point was to cheat and the difficulties we would be facing after becoming a Chunnin he congratulated all of us before an explosion went off at the window and a figure appeared pinning a banner behind her and proclaimed that if we were ready to proceed to the next exam and follow her.

It was her, the other one that had interrogated her about the land of waves mission. Anko Mitarashi.

"Anko, you're early. Again." At least she had the decency to look embarrassed. She then looked to the group of everyone that was left. Her eyes widened as she counted the numbers.

"28 teams Ibiki? You've gone soft."

"No, they're just a stronger batch of kids this year."

"No matter, by the time I'm done with you all there will be less than half of you all remaining. My name is Anko Mitarashi, and I will be the proctor for the second part of your exam."

A/N; So sorry about such a late update. i was pretty stumped for a while but i think I've gotten a clearer idea of what i want this to be and how id like it to go. i apologies for any typos in the actual story, igaf about the errors in this authors note. Idk if ill go back and edit it and correct my mistakes but if i do it will be a while before i do that, i aint really got the time for that, sorry. however if there is anything absolutely atrocious let me know and i will fix the major errors in a few days. leave a review of what y'all think!


	6. The Forest of Death

**3rd POV**

Ibiki watched as all the kids up and left the room to go to training grounds 44 where the next part of the Chunin exams would be held. However before Anko could leave the room he asked her to wait.

"Something wrong Ibiki?" Anko asked after seeing his face.

"Not wrong, but certainly strange. Do you remember that girl we questioned the other day, with the pink hair. Haruno Sakura?" Anko looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, what about her. Do you think somethings wrong with her?" She questioned only for him to shake his head.

"Like I said, nothing is wrong, just strange." He walked down the aisle between the desks directly to where the pink haired girl was sitting. "How smart do you think that girl is, and how strong do you think her mental strength is?"

"Those are some weird questions, Ibiki. What brought this on?"

"Just answer the questions." Anko frowned at him before contemplating for a few seconds.

"Well, for someone to be put on a team with the son of the Hokage and the son of the Uchiha Clan leader, I'd say she'd have to be pretty damn smart. Rumor has it she bested Sasuke in terms of grades in their classes, however she's pretty weak when it came to her physical exams. Then with the exams on the clones, henges, substitution jutsu her scores there were remarkable too. I remember Iruka bragging one day about how well her chakra control was. So the girl is pretty smart, but not strong. As for her mental strength I'm not so sure. She was pretty strong mentally after their misshape in the Land of Waves. She's got a good head on her shoulders if you ask me. But there's definitely room for improvement. Why do you ask?" Anko watched as Ibiki grabbed the girls test from the top of the dest and looked it over.

"To be honest, I'm not so sure myself. While the exam was taking place I watched as every single one of these brats panicked over the questions on the test. It was easy to tell what they were thinking just by the looks on their faces. That girl however, panicked for just a split second, then it was like a switch went off in her mind and she was able to blow through the questions, without having to cheat off of someone else's paper like the purpose of the exam was supposed to make you do. The questions given were meant to be difficult even for some Jounin, but look." he showed her the paper. "Even without cheating she was able to answer every question with extreme detail." Anko whistled as she looked over the test.

"Okay, so she's smart. I still don't get where you're going with this. And you also asked about her mental strength, why?"

"After she had completed the test, Ino Yamanaka tried to use their family jutsu on Sakura, more than likely to cheat, but she couldn't. I've seen Inoichi do that jutsu hundreds if not, millions of times, Ino did everything perfectly, but she failed three times. I'm almost certain that with her fathers guidance, she shouldn't have failed, Sakura was able to keep her out of her mind, and she knew it too. She gave Ino almost a smirk when they looked at each other after the failed attempts. So I don't know how, but she was able to go beyond my expectations in the written test and actually baffled me when she kept Ino and her jutsu at bay. Like I said before, there's nothing wrong, just strange. Keep and eye on her in this next exam for me, would you."

"Ibiki." Anko said, almost warningly. She knew him, she knew him more than she'd like to admit. He's always looking for new people to bring in to the TI department. "She's just a child."

"Since when have you ever really cared about things like that anyway Anko? And besides, I know she's young, I'd wait a few years before even considering her. This is just to see if she has the potential to do it when she gets stronger, because right now, she's weaker than children who are just now entering the ninja academy." Anko sighed.

"Whatever Ibiki, I'll keep an eye out." Anko then left to where the kids were waiting to get to the next exam.

As soon as she came outside she put on a grin and yelled at the kids to follow her and led them to the Forest of Death.

"Alright you maggots, listen up. Before you all is something we like to call the Forest of Death, this is where your next exam will be taking place. Each team will be receiving a scroll, half will get an Earth scroll, the other half will get a Heaven scroll, you need both in order to pass. Once having taken a scroll from your opponent it is your mission to get to the center of the arena. There, you will find a building, that building is where the third part of your exams take place. Before we get started you all need to sign these wavers. It basically states that we are not held responsible for anything that happens beyond this point until the exams are over, after all, you'll soon be finding out why this place is called the Forest of Death."

"'You'll soon find out why it's called the forest of death.' Please, my mother is scarier than that, I'm not afraid!" Anko looked at the blonde twerp and grinned. 'The Hokage's brat ey?'

 **Sakura's POV**

 _ **'He's certainly got balls, I'll give him that.'**_ I couldn't help but sigh at the scrolls words, they were true, but he was also quite stupid.

"You're a spirited one." Anko said after being mocked by Naruto.

 _ **'Stupid one is more like it.'**_ I'm getting the feeling he doesn't like Naruto very much.

In a split second Anko had grabbed a kunai from her hip pouch and threw it. It sliced through the air before nicking Naruto on the cheek.

"You're the type of kid that gets killed quickly, spilling that blood I so dearly love." She said almost sadistically. She was so fast I didn't even see her move, she's also completely different from when I saw her in the interrogation room.

The scroll in my own pouch vibrated intensely, much like it did when we had met Kabuto.

 _ **'Sakura!'**_ was the only thing he was able to say before another ninja had appeared with the knife that Anko had thrown right behind her. _ **'That person, I'm not sure why but I've got a terrible feeling about him, even more than the other one with the glasses. Stay away from him at all costs, do you understand?'**_ At first I was confused but in the end I just said _'Alright.'_

"Here you go, I was just returning the kunai you threw earlier." Said the ninja that head the headband from the Grass Village.

"Why thank you Grass ninja. You saved me the trouble of having to pick it up myself. But you know, you shouldn't sneak up on me like that, unless you want to die that is." Anko threatened.

"My apologies, you see, I just got excited after seeing his blood. You also cut my hair so I just couldn't help myself."

'What the hell is up with this person? This could be bad.' I though as I felt a shiver go through my spine.

"Sorry about that. But anyway, let's move on. I'll explain a little more about the exam before you all sign the papers. The exam you're about to part take in is a survival test, you will face many things in this training arena. Poisonous animals, venomous snakes, wild beasts, and of course each other. There are many ways to get disqualified, such as losing a teammate or not getting the scroll in the allotted time period, and most importantly, do not open the scrolls you are given. As a Chunin you will be tasked with holding important information that you at unable to look at under any circumstance, this is meant to test your trustworthiness. All that being said there is also a time limit, which I'd say is roughly around 120 hours, exactly five days. You will have to find you own means of survival within these walls. Now that everything has been said, if you would all like to move forward, you may sign your wavers and take it to one of the booths where you will trade in your papers for your scroll. after that you will be taken to one of the 44 gates the arena has and will wait for the signal to begin, your 120 hours begin as soon as you make it past the gate. If there are no more questions, you may all proceed."

After Anko's explanation Sasuke, Naruto and I all looked at each other. however, despite everything we'd just been told, we weren't all that scared.

"Non of these people here seem as strong or nearly as frightening as Haku or Zabuza. I mean sure we had Kakashi back then but still, I think we'll be alright. The only one's we really have to worry for is Rock Lee and his team, the team from Suna, and the team from Grass. All three of them seem to have formidable opponents." Sasuke explained.

Naruto nodded his head, clearly agreeing.

I both agreed and disagreed with this statement.

"Not quite Sasuke-kun, the only reason why you think that is because they are the only teams who have stood out so far. None of the other teams have brought attention to themselves, so we don't know what they're capable of, we shouldn't underestimate them. And besides, do you both not realize the targets we have on this team with not only the Hokage's son but the second son to the Head of the Uchiha Clan? Because of both your statuses everyone is going to want to see what you're both capable of. Earlier Sasuke had said the teams that he did because they had done something to stand out, do you remember what Naruto said during the written exam? Now we've stood out too because of that, we're also a team to look out for." I explained to them both. Naruto and Sasuke both looked at each other before looking at me.

"Why are you so worried about that, all we have to do is kick their asses, no problem." Naruto said, causing me to want to face palm.

"Shut up dobe, Sakura has a point. But then again, I really don't think we'd have that hard of a time against these guys. There's no way we're going to lose, after all, like you said. We're the sons of the Hokage and Uchiha Clan leader." Part of me wanted to rip my hair out at both of these guys. I know that their strong but we're still in the dark about everyone's techniques. Everything Kakashi-sensei has taught us so far revolved around teamwork and to look underneath the underneath. Right now we're going in blind and neither of them realize the danger we could be in.

"Let's go turn in our papers so we can get to our assigned gate. Let's get this exam over with." I said, finally having enough. They'll see once we get inside their mistakes. It may even cost us the exam.

A/N; What! Another chapter so soon? Think of this as an apology for not having updated sooner. Shit get's real next chapter, let me know what you all think about this one!


	7. The Forest of Death Pt 2

**Sakura's POV**

Five minutes.

It's been five fucking minutes and things have already gone to shit in a hand basket.

Almost as soon as we started Naruto claimed he had to take a leak and had went behind the bushes to 'go'. But when he came back it was obviously not him. He was missing the scratch on his cheek and his kunai pouch was in the wrong place. The guy was all sorts of fucked up.

So after we took care of the guy and rescued Naruto, Sasuke came up with a code word that was way too diffucult for Naruto to remember. As soon as the code word was said we were all attacked by a giant gust of wind that had seperated us for no more than two minutes. After the dust had settled I found Sasuke who I reapeted the code word to to prove that it was me. Another second later Naruto had shown up and said the same thing. At first I was relieved but then...

 ** _'No Sakura, don't believe it. Naruto had even said before we all got separated that he couldn't memorize the password, so how can he remember it now? It's not him, he's a copy!'_**

I never even thought about that before, how could I be so stupid.

"You're not Naruto, there's no way the moron could remember such a long and difficult code word." Sasuke said to which the Naruto clone released the henge, revealing the Grass ninja that the scroll had told me to stay away from at all cost.

 ** _'Listen to me Sakura, both of your teammates are in grave danger, you must do everything you can to escape._** '

"Sasuke, we have to leave, we can't take him on by ourselves! Plus we need to find Naruto, we don't know what might have happened to him!" I yelled out to Sasuke only to have him scowl at me.

"Shut up Sakura, you don't know anything about being a ninja or how to even properly fight. I can tell just by looking at this guy that he's probably more of a rookie than we are. You go find Naruto by yourself, if you can handle it, but just stay out of my way, you got it!?" It had felt like a punch in the gut to hear him say those words to me. After all I still really care about him. I know I've been distracted lately with the scroll, it's a new voice in my head after all, but that didn't change the way I had felt about him. But now...

I couldn't help the way my stomach had dropped or the way my throat had gotten all tight. A little part of me loved him less now, a lot less.

 _ **'Ignore him Sakura. He'll soon figure out not only what your teacher means by looking underneath the underneath, but what you mean when you say he can't do it by himself. We'll be back soon, but we really need to find Naruto right now.'**_ I tried to push away everything I was feeling and instead went in search for Naruto. The scroll was right, as of right now I know that both Sasuke and I are alive and well, I have to find Naruto.

I took off into the trees in search of my other teammate, fighting off the tears that had clouded my vision. It didn't take long to find Nartuo, however when I did I wasn't expecting him to be wrapped around the tail of a giant snake.

 _ **'I really don't like the feeling of this Sakura.'**_

 _'I know, neither do I.'_ I replied as I felt a wave of terror come over me.

"Ok, what the hell is up with this forest!?" Naruto yelled as the snake lifted him higher and opened up it's mouth, getting ready to swallow him.

"Naruto, look out!" I yellled, but it was too late. The giant snake had swallowed him whole. "No! Naruto!" What was I going to do? As much as I truly hated to admit it, Sasuke and Naruto are right, I'm not strong enough.

 ** _'Sakura, stop doubting yourself. At times like this you can't think negatively. Even against all odds you must always believe in yourself that you'll be able to win against any enemy.'_**

 _'How can I though? I'm all alone. Being put on a team and being sent on missions was supposed to help me bacome stonger, but I was never able to do anything because the guys had always told me to stay away, they never gave me a chance to fight on my own or along side them so I was never able to grow. What am I supposed to do now that I'm all alone?'_

 ** _'You aren't alone Sakura, you have me. Use me!'_**

 _'What do you mean use you? You mean as a sword? But I've never been able to use you before, what makes you think I can now?'_

 _ **'This, exactly this conversation and he reason we're having it. You can talk to me, out side of your dreams, which is rare all on it's own. You're body is also calling upon you inner strength. Most people have a fight or flight instinc in their bodies, despite never having been in a real battle your body is telling you to fight because your body knows you can. Listen to it. Fight. Use me and FIGHT!'**_

All of a sudden my mind went blank. I couldn't see anything, but I was able to hear ** _._**

The rustling of the leaves, the howling of the wind, and the muffled yells of my team mate calling my name. My hand had a mind of it's own and went to my hip where I felt a new heavy weight on my side. My eyes snapped open as I grabbed a hold of the hilt of the sword that appeared.

I could hear it, the name.

The name of the Samurai in the scroll.

The name of the voice in my head.

The name of my _Zanpakuto._

 _"SENBONZAKURA!"_

A large gust of wind blew around me as I pulled my zanpakuto free from its' sheath and held it in front of me. The blade glared against the sun as I briefly inspected it. I couldn't admire it for too long because I had a stupid team mate that needed my help. I pushed myself forward with the blade in hand, charging for the snake that had swallowed my team mate.

"Let him go!" I yelled as I swung my sword down from above my head, hitting the snake on it's back. For a brief second I didn't think that the sword would do much against the scales, but I guess the sword was much sharper than I thought it was because it sliced through the snake like it was butter. The beast wailed before swinging its' head around to look at me. It looked ready to strike but stopped half way before it looked to where I cut through it before it screeched again as thousands of Naruto clones emerged from the hold I'd created causing the snake to tear completely in half, killing the beast once and for all.

I looked down to the sword covered in snake blood and smile to myself.

I did it. Well, sort of. I helped Naruto escape the snake but he wouldn't have been able to without me.

"Sakura-chan?" I looked up to Naruto who had called my name, he looked at me with confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"I came here to help you." I said as I walked closer to my team mate.

"What do you mean, I don't need your help Sakura, I got out all by myself." I gaped at him. I mean I guess he couldn't exactly see me do it, but how does he explain the hole all of his clones escaped from?

"Naruto, where do you think all your clones got out from?"

"Huh, what do you mean? The snake just exploded with the amount of clones I made. I mean there wasn't that many that I had to make which was surprising, but that's what did it." Naruto said. Part of me wanted to explain to him that it was the hole I made with the sword that let him out but decided against it, he'd probably make some comment about that being impossible because I was a civilian born, and I swear if he make some kind of comment about that again, Team 7 will be short one member and the Hokage wont have a son to take his place as the next Hokage.

"Whatever Naruto. Sasuke's fighting all alone right now against that grass ninja from earlier and I really think he's underestimating his opponent. I didn't like the feeling he gave when he came out cloned to be you."

"Well I'm sure Sasuke's fine, but let's go back to him anyway. We have to finish this together after all."

Naruto and I took to the trees, my zanpakuto back in it's sheath at my hip. As we were running back to my other idiot team mate Sanbonzakura spoke to me.

 ** _'I'm glad that you are now able to use me in battle. Though there is much to learn, this was an important step to strengthening our bond. But might I suggest something? I know that they're your teammates, but their doubt in you as not only a fellow ninja but their team mate will put you all in danger one day, if it hasn't already. But maybe you should look into getting a new team or leaving this one for a while. The need to mature mentally, and you need to get stronger physically. If you stay on this team, that may not happen. And if you can't permanently leave the team, then perhaps find a way to train with out them around.'_**

I couldn't help but sigh, he was right. He was so right.

What do you guys think? What's going on with Sasuke? Has he realized his big mistake yet? Will Naruto and Sasuke ever learn or will the end up pushing Sakura away completely? Will she leave? If so, where, how long, and with who? Let me know your thoughts!


	8. Bitten

**Sasuke's POV**

I never noticed it at first, but it didn't take me long to realize I was way out of my league.

He, no, she... whatever this thing was, because there's no way it was human, was strong.

Almost as soon as Sakura left, the grass ninja seemed to be playing with me. Like I was nothing more than a kitten in a lions den. Before anything had started he swallowed the scroll we were after, then I had tried to charge at him but he pulled down the skin by his eyes and for a moment I thought he had put me in a genjutsu, because I had seen my life literally flash before my eyes. But then I realized that it was just his amazing killer intent.

Sakura was right. We need to get out of here, all of us.

"What's the matter Sasuke-kun? Realizing a bit too late that your little team mate was right after all? You said some pretty harsh words to her, I wonder if she'll even speak to you again after this. Is your team ruined before you all even become Chuunin?" The guy mocked me making me scowl at him. Part of me wondered if he was right about Sakura, would she even look at me after what I'd said to her? Gods, what would my mother say of she ever found out what I'd said to her. She'd kill me before this creep ever got the chance to lay a finger on me. "Oh well, it's not like you'd ever get the chance to apologize to her anyway, she's probably dead along with that blonde team mate of yours. And who knows, you may just follow them."

"I don't think so, I don't plan on dying here today, and there's no way Naruto or Sakura would fall to the likes of you." I said as I managed to jump out of the way as one of the huge snakes he summoned attacked me from behind.

It's times like these that make me glad my brother and cousin help me train. If I hadn't of trained with them I'm sure I would be frozen in fear right now.

Now that I've gotten a better idea of how strong this guy is I know that I have to get out of here, did Sakura manage to find Naruto? Or were they both hurt?

"You should stay focused Sasuke-kun, I have to test your strengths before I move forward with the plans I had made for you."

"What?" I spat out. "What plans?"

"You'll jest have to wait and find out I suppose." He said before charging at me again, only this time his own body seemed to extend like a snake, wrapping around trees in effort to attack me.

It was a back and forth battle for a long time, but I couldn't help but notice how easy it seemed for him. He was able to dodge effortlessly while I struggled. He was unaffected while I was out of breath. He seemed to have and endless amount of chakra no matter how many jutsu's he was throwing at me while I was almost chakra depleted.

He appeared to be such a weak Gennin before this all started, yet here he was now, stronger than most ANBU. It makes me wonder how strong he'd be against my brother and my cousin. If they'd be able to handle him or if they'd have trouble too. But then I scoffed at the thought of them having any kind of trouble against this guy. There's no way an Uchiha of their level would fall to this guy. But I'm not on their level yet.

I had to get out of here, or I just might die here.

"Sasuke!" I heard a loud, familiar yell from the trees behind me, causing some of the worry that had taken up space in my mind to clear. I soon felt both Naruto and Sakura's chakra nearby. But something was off about Sakura's chakra, it was still her, but it somehow felt stronger, more refined.

"It was about time you showed up dead last." I said as I turned to face them both.

"Well you see, I had to take care of a snake that had decided to swallow me whole. But a few dozen clones was able to make it explode." I didn't fail to notice the slightly irritated and hurt look on Sakura's face. But a quick glance of her whole person told me she wasn't physically hurt, but something was still definitely wrong with her.

Part of me thought it might have been from what I said earlier, or maybe Naruto said something to her, or maybe even both. Whatever the case, I felt unusually guilty, which I didn't even think I was capable of. I had to make sure I apologized to her, after we get out of here of course.

"Well, well, who would have thought that you two would make it back alive, or at least before I managed to complete my task, no matter, my plans remain the same." said the grass ninja before he too looked at my teammates with a calculating eye that put me on edge.

"Naruto, Sakura, we have to get out of here." I told them, I saw the surprise on Sakura's face, which didn't surprise me, after all, I had told her not twenty minutes ago that she was stupid for even saying the same thing I just did.

"Sasuke what are you talking about, we need to get that scroll so we can finish the exams."

"There are plenty of other scrolls you idiot, we can't take this guy, we need to go!" I yelled at him, Sakura almost smiled in relief until Naruto took off from her side to attack the grass ninja.

"Why wait on another scroll when we have one right here?!" Naruto yelled as he soon engaged in battle with the grass ninja.

"Naruto you idiot!" I yelled at him. I watched as the grass ninja summoned another snake and sent it after Naruto. Just like he had with me, he was tossing Naruto around like he was nothing. After the snake smacked Naruto away it charged after Sakura who seemed to freeze. I tried to move but the exhaustion was starting to settle in and I couldn't move fast enough. But thankfully, Naruto was able to make it in time and shielded her from the snake. Then he said something, something that made me want to smack him.

"You're not hurt are you? Scaredy cat."

I had never noticed it until now but, it was almost like Naruto and I have been bullying Sakura, for things that aren't even her fault.

The look on Sakura's face spoke volumes on what she was feeling. There was no doubt in my mind that at this point, Sakura was done with us.

Naruto seemed surprised at the amount of rage that was on her face that he didn't even notice that the ninja had come up from behind him and used his snake like tongue to pick him up. He said something before his fingers glowed purple and slammed his hand into Naruto's stomach, knocking him unconscious. He let Naruto go and both he and Sakura watched as he fell. Knowing Sakura wasn't going to do anything to stop him from falling I threw a kunai and pinned his jacket to the tree to stop his fall.

"What's the matter girl, had enough of your teammates? That's quite the look of rage on you face, I quite admire it actually." I growled as I took my chance against him again, leaving Sakura on the tree branch she was just on. I couldn't bring myself to look her in the face and see the damage both Naruto and I had caused on our teammate.

Several minutes had gone by before I managed to wrap the grass ninja in my ninja wire and burned him to a crisp, only for him to emerge and practically peel off the outer layer of skin he was wearing to reveal his real face. His pale white skin and snake like yellow eyes sent chills down my spine. The next thing I knew his teeth were in my neck and I had felt a pain so extreme I failed to notice Sakura land next to me with Naruto over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"What did you do to them?" I could hear her ask.

"It doesn't matter, you'll all find out soon enough." Then I watched with blurry vision as he sank into the ground.

I turned my head to look at Sakura through the corner of my eyes. Her eyes held no emotion, her face so blank it would put most Uchiha's to shame.

"S-sakura." She turned her head to look at me, eyes still blank.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure we get the scroll we need, just sleep." I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore, and soon darkness overcame me.

 **Sakura's POV**

I wasn't sure what to feel in this moment.

Part of me was worried for my teammates but I had told them both that we needed to retreat before we even began battling. Now they were both out of commission.

Despite feeling so much anger towards both teammates I knew that we had to get out of here. The battle sounds was sure to have caught people's attention, they should be here to take advantage of the situation soon enough.

I made a clone to help me carry both teammates to a new location, one where I'd be able to take care of both their injuries.

Around an hour later I found a hollowed out tree where I threw both boys into. I lied down a few traps that would alert me to anyone's presence before taking the opportunity to rest up myself, besides, I know that there's someone watching over us anyway.

I placed my hand on the sword at my hip and smiled.

Senbonzakura.

 **A/N; Sorry for such a long wait, but here you go. So in case you all haven't noticed, Sasuke's had a bit of a realization, Naruto has too but it happened right before he passed out from Orochimaru.**

 **Next time the Sound team shows up for Sasuke but Sakura has a different plan in mind along with Senbonzakura.**

 **Read and Review, I appreciate the love. Byeeeeee.**


	9. Not Sorry

**Sakura's POV**

It was the next day before something had actually happened.

It started when a squirrel ran towards one of my traps, I had thrown a kunai at it to keep it from setting it off. Not only that but I could clearly see the paper bomb that was attached to it's back. Someone was out there, that I'm sure of. But I can't go looking for then and leave my teammates behind. They'll show up when they want to.

I closed my eyes and spread out my chakra to see if I could pinpoint their location, they weren't that far, maybe just a half mile from our current location, but they weren't moving any closer. What are they waiting on?

 _ **They might be waiting on you to let your guard down again. If it was them who sent the squirrel then they must also know that you sent it away and are on high alert.**_

 _Probably, that actually makes sense. What should I do if they come, Senbonzakura?_

 _ **We fight them of course. There are a few other techniques I would love to show you, and now would be a perfect opportunity to test them out. As soon as you opened the scroll and became my master, you developed another source of energy, called reishi, otherwise known as spirit particles. It's my source of power, just how chakra is yours. Now that you have this energy as well you should be able to perform spells known as Kido.**_

 _Kido? What kind of technique is it?_

 ** _Kido is a loose term, just like Jutsu. There are multiple kinds. For example, a type of Kido is called Bakudo. Bakudo spells are Defensive, Communication, Binding, Tracking, and Sealing spells. And Hado spells are Offensive and Destruction spells._**

 _So what is it that you want to teach me?_

 ** _Hado, particularly the 31st spell, called Shakkaho. To perform this spell you must recite an incantation._**

 _What is it?_

 _ **"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bares the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado number 31, Shakkaho!" After saying the incantation followed by the spell, a red cannon of fire will shoot forth from your hand.**_

 _A what? A red fire cannon?_

 ** _Yes, normally I wouldn't suggest this right away but you have an incredible control over your chakra, which I'm positive will transfer to your reishi as well. And with a mind like yours, I'm also certain that you've memorized the incantation as well, haven't you?_**

 _Of course._

 _ **Another one is a binding spell called Sai. Bakudo spell number one. It can be used on one individual or on a group...**_

I listened as Senbonzakura continued to tell me the spells and their incantations. He told me some that may be more difficult and may require more training and other spells that I should be able to use without to much practice or even any at all.

It was a few hours later when the other ninja made their move again.

 ** _Incoming Blossom, they've made their move now._**

 _I know, believe me, I'm ready._

After seeing who was really under the face of the grass ninja I froze not knowing what to do, and just stood there as he bit Sasuke in the neck. They had taught us in the academy about some of the most notorious S-ranked criminals to come out of our village, Orochimaru being number one on that list. There was no mistaking those yellow eyes for anyone else, it was really him.

"Some look out you are, you're half asleep." I slowly opened my eyes, not bothering to say anything about me being conscious the whole time and knowing that they were here, just waiting, it wouldn't have done much anyway. "No point in trying to hide now, we know you're here. Now, wake Sasuke up, we want to fight him."

But I still don't know what Orochimaru wants with Sasuke, or why he bit him, or what that mark means.

"What do you want with Sasuke, I mean what do you really want with him? I know Orochimaru is calling the shots here." I said as I slowly pulled out Senbonzakura from his sheath at my hips and held him in front of me. "And why would you want to fight someone whose already weakened, don't think you can handle him at full strength?"

"Tch, what an annoying girl. I can't just sit back and listen after what she just said. First I'm going to kill you, then I'm going to kill Sasuke." Said one of the Sound ninja before standing up from the rock he was sitting on.

"Wait a minute Zaku." Said the one who looked like the leader of the group.

"What is it Dosu?"

"It was so obvious, the change in the color of the dirt, there's a trap here. Did you really think that we wouldn't notice something this stupid?"

"Well, the other idiot didn't notice it, so, yeah." I said with a small smirk, enjoying the way the one called Zaku seemed to shake in rage.

"Now we kill her." Said Dosu as all three sound ninja launched themselves, only for me to activate the log trap I had set from above. "What, another one from above?! But no matter, these tricks wont work on us girl." He said before breaking the log with out even trying. At first it confused me, but then I remembered them from the written exam, and how they used sound waves to make Kabuto sick.

 _So that was it._

 _ **Don't throw any kunai or shuriken, they'll just send it back anyway. Be careful of their hands, it seems that's where the sound waves are coming from.**_

 _Got it._

"With all these amateur ninja traps, I can easily tell your not much of a strong ninja at all." Dosu said as they all we closing in on me from above. Just as I was about to begin an incantation to paralyze them all a new voice sounded from above.

"Leaf hurricane!" Said the voice as they came smashing in, knocking back the Sound ninja

 _Is that...?_

 _ **Oh no, the mini me in the green leotard.**_

Part of me was wondering why he was here, but as soon as he turned his heart eyes to me, I knew.

"My dear Cherry Blossom, are you alright?" I slowly nodded my head, not even bothered by the fact that he came out of nowhere, he seems like they type of person to do that.

"Who the hell are you?" Growled Dosu.

"I, am the handsome devil of the leaf village, Rock Lee."

"Lee, what are you doing here?" I asked him.

"I will appear whenever you are in danger Sakura." I frowned.

I already had two teammates stopping me from fighting every chance they got, I don't need someone whose not even from my own team to do the same.

"Lee, we're enemies in this test, and I don't need you fighting my battles for me. You're supposed to be fighting for your own team."

"I told you before Sakura, I will protect you until I die."

 _ **As annoying as he is, I like him better than both of your teammates.**_

 _Shut up, you're not wrong, but shut up._

"This is annoying, Zaku, I'll let you take care of Sasuke. I'll handle these two." Dosu said as he tossed their teams scroll to Zaku.

The Earth scroll, we need their scroll to pair with our Heaven scroll.

"You're pretty good at Taijutsu, I may just have some fun after all." Said Dosu as he came after Lee.

Lee dodged his sound waves by uprooting a tree to take the hit, fulling knowing what they are capable of, having seen it himself in the written exams like I have. Lee then began taking off his bandages that were wrapped around his arms, then moved with incredible speed towards Dosu. He knocked him up in the air before wrapping his bandages around Dosu, flipped them both upside down, and began spinning at a rapid pace. He was going to slam his head into the ground.

But before the impact, Zaku used a jutsu to soften the dirt to cushion his fall. While Dosu turned out okay, Lee was still recuperating from the jutsu he just used. Dosu took the opportunity to use his soundwaves on Lee, causing him to throw up and collapse on the ground, a few seconds later his ears started to bleed.

Dosu went on explaining his jutsu and how it attacked the inner organs of the ear which is what's causing him to lose his balance and giving him nausea.

"Now it's your turn little girl." Dosu said as he began charging for me. After seeing what he did to Lee it almost scared me to think about what he'd do to me. I don't thin Senbonzakura taught me about a barrier that would be able to block soundwaves or vibrations.

 _ **Get ready Sakura.**_

Just as I had held up Senbonzakura Lee came back around to defend me again, only for Dosu to use his arm guards that created the vibrations against Lee again, knocking him out for good.

"I'm surprised at how calm you seem after all that's happened here girl." Dosu commented as he turned his gaze towards me.

"Well, as much as I appreciate Lee and all that he's tried to do for me, I meant what I said earlier. I don't need him to fight my battles for me, I can do this on my own."

"So in other words, you just wanted us to get rid of him for you."

" 'Get rid of' seems a bit harsh, 'out of the way' is more like it, but yes."

Dosu began chuckling. "By the time I'm done here with you, you're going to wish Lee was still around to keep you from getting yourself killed."

"And again, I can do that on my own."

"Talk is cheep girl, let's see what you've really got!"

Zaku ran passed Dosu and came at me holding his palms open towards me, the holes open on display, showing me that he was about to use his sound jutsu on me. I dodged as far as I could to avoid even the after waves of his attack. I looked at the two that were on the ground, not realizing until it was too late that the third member wasn't with them, until she appeared behind me and grabbed me by the hair.

"Damnit." I didn't even sense her, I was so busy trying to avoid ending up like Lee that I failed to notice her sneak up on me.

 _My hair._

 _ **Cut it.**_

 _W-what?_

 ** _It will grow back if you want it to but you only have one life, they are also after your team mate's life. Cut it now._**

I trusted Senbonzakura too much to just ignore him, besides, he's completely right.

Without another moment of hesitation I swung Senbonzakura behind me and cut my hair off, it was a surprisingly nice clean cut, if it was a kunai my hair would have been all messed up.

 _ **Now use what I taught you earlier.**_

With the same momentum I had used to swing my arm back I spun around and pointed my finger directly at the girl in front of me, the girl who was so quiet up until now I didn't even get her name.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bares the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado number 31, Shakkaho!" With the end of my incantation a beam of red fire shot forth from my fingertip, a blast so powerful it knocked the girl through several trees before she finally fell unconscious.

It was all quiet until two voices said simultaneously, "Just what the hell was that!?" I expected the voice of Dosu, but I didn't expect the voice of Ino to be joined with him.

I watched in confusion as team 10 popped out from one of the trees I had destroyed.

 _How long have they been back there?_

 _ **We truly need to work on your observation skills in battle.**_

 _I ignored Senbonzakura's jab in favor of asking them myself._

"What are you doing here, and how long have you been standing there for!?" If any of the members from team 10 were surprised at my out burst, they didn't show it. Instead they looked like they were all trying too hard to think up of an excuse. "Tch, guess it doesn't matter anyway, now that you're all out in the open. Look, just stay back alright, take care of Lee if you want to do something, but stay out of my fight." I barked again, not caring about how I sounded at the moment, too much has happened recently for me to even care.

I turned back to face the remaining two members of the sound team who seemed to snap out of whatever trance they were in.

"What the hell did you do to Kin?"

"You're going to pay for that little girl!" The both yelled as they charged at me once again. They both seemed to have abandoned their use of sound jutsu in favor or taking me head on. Which was fine by me, considering I don't think I truly had a way to counter their attacks anyway, not with the current level of training I was at.

 _Do you think I'd be able to use Shakkaho again anytime soon?_

 ** _I don't think so Blossom, like I mentioned earlier, reiatsu is a lot like chakra, you have a certain amount before you run out, considering this is the first time you've ever really used it, and done it well for you first try, I think you might have used up all your juice for now, you may be able to squeeze out a second one, but not nearly as strong._**

 _Great. No matter, I still have you by my side._

 ** _Of course Blossom, whatever you need._**

 _Just guide me for now, tell me what to do and when to do it._

I listened as I was told to dodge left, duck, swing right, pivot then block.

Step left, step right.

Jump.

Any and every command, I listened.

Sometimes I wasn't fast enough and got nicked or scratched by a stray kunai. But I was enough for now.

Just as I was trying to dodge another attack by Dosu, my foot slipped, causing me to land on my back.

"Sakura!" Came a startled cry from a distance. I didn't know who it was, but it sounded an awful lot like Ino.

I watched as Dosu's hand, armed with a kunai came down on me. I panicked for a split second that I didn't even have enough time for the incantation, I just said it out loud.

"Hado number 4, Byakurai!" A bolt of lightning shot forth from my finger, going right through Dosu.

"No! You bitch!" Came Zaku's cry as his foot came crashing into my face, making my head spin. "Are you trying to kill my teammates!?" He asked like it was the most absurd thing, making me glare at him.

"You and your team came charging in with every intention of killing Sasuke and anyone who got in your way, myself and Lee included, so why the hell are you tripping balls over me protecting myself, even if it's at the cost of your lives. This test was meant to me a battle to the death from the start, we all signed waivers. We all knew this was going to be the life for us when we decided to become ninja, don't lose your shit because you thought you were all untouchable until now and are faced with the reality that you're all done for here. Because I promise that after the shit you've all tried to do to us today, you wont have any mercy coming from me!" I screamed out loud.

Zaku didn't seem to like my answer because he kicked me again and again. Just as I was waiting for what felt like the seventh blow, it all stopped.

A wave of dark chakra began circling the air, sending a chill down my spine.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing to my teammate?" Growled out a voice, filled with rage.

"Sasuke?" I choked out, coughing on the blood that was in my mouth from all the kicks to the face.

Sasuke looked down from his standing position to look me in the eye. If it was even possible, he looked even angrier than what he sounded earlier. He had black marks covering his entire skin, the three pinwheels of his Sharingan were spinning wildly, and to top it all off, his chakra was visibly spinning around him in waves of purple.

"You came with the intent to kill us, so don't be so surprised when we return the favor." Sasuke said as he engaged Zaku in battle. But Sasuke was much too fast for Zaku to keep up with and in the end, Sasuke ended up behind Zaku with Sasuke pulling back Zaku's arms until they were both ripped from their sockets.

"Now then, you two next." Sasuke said as he turned to face both Kin and Dosu who were actually still alive, but only just. They were struggling to support each other's weight as they barely managed to grab Zaku a jump a safe distance away.

"Alright, we surrender already alright? We only came because Orochimaru wanted us to test out your strength after obtaining his curse mark. Here, you can even take our scroll." Dosu said as he placed it down on the floor before going to take their leave, only to be stopped by Sasuke.

"Do you really think that I'd just let you all leave after all the trouble you put my teammate through?"

"In all fairness, she put us through more trouble than we put her through." Sasuke glared at Kin who spoke before moving in closer to them, ready to finish what I had started. But I couldn't let him.

"Sasuke, don't."

I struggled off the ground before rushing to Sasuke, accidentally tripping on the way, causing me to collide with his back and wrap my arms around him from behind so I wouldn't fall.

Sasuke snapped his head around and glared at me, almost asking me why I was trying to stop him but his anger soon died out. Instead he almost seemed to calm down.

He helped me to my feet as soon as all the marks on his skin disappeared and his Sharingan went away.

He looked like he wanted to say something but was cut off before he even got a chance to get a word out.

"What the hell happened to your guys' team!?" We both looked over and I had only just noticed that Lee was now awake and that the rest of his team was here.

 _When did they...?_

 ** _Again, this is something we truly need to work on._**

 **A/N; Another update and a super long chapter to go with it. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. So in case you all haven't noticed by now I'm trying to make Sakura stronger but not too quickly. She still has a long way to go but she will get there. In the next Chapter team 7 makes it to the tower with three days left to spare in the exam. I wanted them to have more time to recuperate before the final test begins, Sasuke and Naruto both need to have a talk with Sakura, she will speak her mind about them, and she meets Gaara again, and he gets his questions answered as well.**

 **And on quick question for y'all, Who do you want Sakura to fight against in the finals, because if it wasn't obvious already, she's will beat Ino in the Prelims.**

 **Do you want it to be;**

 **Gaara**

 **Sasuke**

 **Neji**

 **Shikamaru**

 **Temari**

 **Naruto**

 **As always, read and review, I love hearing your thoughts on what you thought about my story. See you all next time!**


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